


【Endgame】The Legacy

by Icylily



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky is my boy forever, Dark reality, Not A Fix-It, Other, consequences of Endgame, seriously what the hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-14 14:23:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icylily/pseuds/Icylily
Summary: Warning:I am outraged by the way Endgame ends, if you are a fan of it, stop reading. My writing (and translation) is lousy anyway.





	【Endgame】The Legacy

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [【终局之战】The Legacy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18934903) by [Icylily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icylily/pseuds/Icylily). 



"Be careful." The crackle of electric current passed through the receiver. "It's crazy out there. These people have completely lost their minds."

The Winter Soldier let go of the telephone wire tangled in his fingers. "They're no different than the people who march on the street, Sam," he said, pressing his temples wearily. "They just..."

"Just lost too much," Sam paused. "That's why I don't approve of your return. They said he’s gone in peace. You really don’t have to..."

The Winter Soldier remained silent, till the system prompted a warning that the time was up. "Good luck." That was the last thing he heard.

The soldier hung up the receiver and pushed open the glass door of the telephone booth. The rain was pouring, with the "Welcome to Brooklyn" sign creaking in the wind. "Brooklyn" was airbrushed with a "HELL" that was red as blood in the headlights of passing cars.

The Winter Soldier put up his hood and headed for the alley. He remembered there was a shortcut.

 

***

The Winter Soldier bypassed several burning gas cans. The further away from the main street, the dirtier the air was in his nose. He smelled alcohol, gasoline, rot, urine, and something dead.

“This is the end！”

The white-haired man staggered toward him, laughing hysterically in the rain with open arms. Squatting at the foot of the alley wall, those vagrants spat in his direction.

The Winter Soldier quickened his pace. Suddenly his heel struck something stiff. He looked down and saw a battered Bible with a switchblade sticking straight out of it.

The Winter Soldier walked faster. The streetlight not far away was calling to him.

“Thank you.”

The abrupt greeting brought the soldier to a slight halt. "Thank you." The voice continued, along with the tearing sound of paper.

The soldier looked to the source and found a lone gas can stood in the corner. A man in a wool cap was tearing a magazine. He said "thank you" in a stilted voice at every page he tore, then threw the crumpled paper into the blazing fire.

Those images on the paper were too much for the soldier to remain calm - Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow... Captain America's portrait had been torn in half. He rushed forward uncontrollably and snatched the magazine from the man's hand.

"Fuck!"The man growled and shook his fist at him. "What the fuck is wrong with you? !"

The Winter Soldier leaned the magazine over to his chest, using his back ridges and shoulders to withstand the blows, even though he could push him to the ground with just a few fingers.

Half of his sleeve was torn off, the dark blue metal exposed to the man's view, made he take a shocked step back. "What the hell are you?"

"Be quiet, Bob." A pale, thin face floated up in the darkness like a ghost. "This is an old friend of mine."

Winter Soldier would never forget this voice, the blood in his body instantly coagulated, spreading indescribable nausea in the stomach. "Zemo." he said slowly.

Helmut Zemo's features looked grimly contorted in the light of the leaping fire, but Winter Soldier noticed the wrinkles around his eyes and the white hair around his ears. He looked a good twenty years older than he actually was.

Zemo put his hand through the fire. "What brings you back to Brooklyn?"

The soldier did not answer his question. "I thought your sentence was life in prison. "

"I died once and came back to life, " Zemo said, staring into the flames. "When I woke up, my cell was gone and the world was in chaos, so I decided to do them a favor."

The Winter Soldier frowned. "I can't let you get away with this, " he said, reaching into his pocket for nothing. It was a personal trip, stun guns and restraints were not in his belongings.

Zemo raised his eyelids listlessly. "So you joined them after all..." he said in a sarcastic tone. "... joined the avengers."

His companion, the fellow named Bob, took a deep breath.

"Bob, " Zemo ordered in his bewitching voice, "go and tell people an avenger is here," his lips slowly curled up in a sort of chilling confidence. "You can take me, but you have to convince them first. "

 

***

As the ragged crowd approached, the Winter Soldier realized that Sam was right to be worried.

He lowered his weight and assumed a combat position, but when his eyes met those of despair and anger, he wavered.

He lowered his hands.

It's okay. They are not so many, and he is strong.

When the first stone fell, the soldier told himself.

 

***

The beating went on for about an hour, and the soldier kept his vibranium arm in his hoodie pocket, protecting his head with the other one. Only when a switchblade struck him in the chest did the soldier raise his metal hand to block it.

He looked in surprise at the little girl with a switchblade in her hand. She can’t be older than eight, how could that be...

"Kid, " he said, stretching out his hand to her with difficulty. "What's your name? Where are your parents? "

The girl kicked his hand away with hatred in her face. "I have no parents. Nobody wants me. "

Winter Soldier's lips quivered. And Zemo's still talking.

"See, this is the future the avengers have made for us. "

The Winter Soldier shivered and plugged his ears, but Zemo was still talking. His words penetrated his eardrums like steel needles.

"Love, home, family... we lost everything because the avengers cannot accept their defeat. "

The Winter Soldier slowly flattened out his body, ceasing resistance completely.

......

Zemo clapped his hands. Someone rushed up in anger to make more kicks into the man’s chest. He did not even move.

Zemo ordered them to lift him up. "He is the reason that you're in New York, right?" He pointed to the rolled-up magazine stuck in his chest, the "A" on Captain America's helmet had turned red.

"I'll take you to him. "

 

***

Under the order of Zemo, they marched towards a cemetery outside Brooklyn.

The Winter Soldier, lame on one foot, was nearly dragged along by the vagrants. His face was covered in blood, the color of his coat was beyond recognition, though his pants were comparatively neat. Zemo mercifully left him with a modicum of mobility, perhaps just enough to get him here.

Right in front of Captain America's grave, the second round of beatings began.

The iron bars fell madly on his back, then on his belly, his ribs, his thighs... and finally on his knees. The Winter Soldier staggered a few times, finally he can no longer support himself and kneeled. His jeans were full of deep-red stains, and they continued to spread.

Zemo crouched down and tugged his hair to make his eyes meet the statue of Steve Rogers, who was raising a shield on the tombstone.

"You miss him, huh? Your cap."

The Winter Soldier narrowed his eyes. Blood ran down his forehead and down his eyelids. The searing pain made his metal fingers bend slightly. Through his reddened vision he caught a glimpse of a rose lying on the base of the gravestone, where it must have been laid for a while. The petals went black and wrinkled and the leaves rolled up.

A boot stepped on the rose, crushing the delicate flower.

"No!"

Cried the Winter Soldier hoarsely. "You can't..."

His head was pushed into a puddle, mud mixed with rain poured down his nose and mouth, and the strong smell of earth hit his head.

"Do you know what I saw there?" Zemo's words echoed in his ears. "My father, my children, and her... We are reunited. And we are separated again because of you sons of bitches."

The Winter Soldier let out a choking moan. Zemo lifted his head again and watched as he coughed furiously, squeezing a mass of black and red filth out of his chest.

Streams of water splashed down on his face, washing away the blood that had clotted his eyelids and eyelashes. His vision came into focus again.

"You avengers never change. You took everything, and you left." Zemo said with a calm face, just like his voice. "And we became monsters. That's fair, isn't it?" He pinched Winter Soldier's stubble-streaked chin. "Do you think it is fair, Winter Soldier?"

Winter Soldier kept his mouth shut.

"Tell me, is it fair?" Zemo's voice rose, his eyes flashing with madness. "I thought you were the only green in his pupils, I can’t be more wrong. He didn't even leave you his shield, ha!"

A row of white biting marks appeared on Winter Soldier's lower lip. The rain watered down the corners of his eyes. He didn't say a word.

Zemo hissed. "What a dog." He patted the soldier's face and turned to the crowd. "Show him the right way to honor Captain America."

A bottle flew to the statue of Steve amid the roar of laughter. The bright red liquid snaked down his shoulder. Some tried to burn the shield with torches, while most of them competed to spit on the face of the symbol of freedom and hope. It required some skills, as Captain America's face was made much smaller than it should be.

The soldier gave a look of pain. "Stop..." He murmured, as if to himself. His knees sunk in the mud, with his arms still being held in back, but Zemo knew he could easily break free if he wanted to.

"Your new master doesn't allow you to bite, does he?" Zemo smiled cruelly. "Hey, who's going to make it more homey?"

The crowd erupted in obscene laughter. Several men stepped forward and unzipped their pants at the statue that was covered in saliva.

"Stop it!"

The flash caused a sudden blind. No one saw what the Winter Soldier had done or how he had done it.

The muddy water covered soldier’s feet. He was panting and panting. People around him were moaning, clutching their heads and arms. The rest were scattered.

"I don’t want anything from him, never..." the Winter Soldier wiped his face, spit out the last piece of blood left in the mouth. "All I want to remember is that stupid kid from Brooklyn."

Zemo, lying on the ground, laughed as if he gave up breathing. The Winter Soldier went up to him and gave him the final blow.

"You keep telling yourself that." Said Zemo before he passed out.

"You talk too much."

The soldier took off his hoodie and rolled it around his hand. "I’m here, pal." He whispered, kneeling before the statue to wipe away the stains.

The thunder rolled by, and rain still pattering the ground.

 

Fin

 


End file.
